Claustrophobia
by Accio-Spaceman
Summary: A game of truth or dare leads to Peter and Nellie getting locked in a cupboard but Nellie is claustrophobic. TRIGGER WARNINGS for panic attacks, medication and claustrophobia. I based this on my own experience of panic attacks and phobias and I in no way intended to romanticise a serious and life altering condition.
1. Chapter 1

Inspired by this prompt

 **Trigger warnings** for panic attacks, medication and claustrophobia. I based this on my own experience of panic attacks and phobias and I in no way intended to romanticise or sugar-coat what is to many a serious and life altering condition.

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In hindsight, they should have known it was a bad idea to play truth or dare with Sophie around. There was a reason people chose to leave that game to teenagers.

By the third round, Emmett and Alec had left, and Sarah had retreated to her room to watch a film. Never ones to back down from a dare, only Nellie and Peter remained to face Sophie's challenges.

"Okay, your turn Nellie! I dare you…" ever the drama queen, Sophie paused to build the suspense.

"Just get on with it!" Nellie snapped perhaps a little harshly, feeling a headache coming on.

"Alright, alright! I dare you to last five minutes locked in that cupboard with Peter without arguing!" she ended on a squeal, obviously delighted at herself for thinking of something she would surely fail at.

"What?!" Nellie and Peter screeched in unison.

"What are we, twelve?!" Peter laughed.

"Soph, that's ridiculous!" Nellie tried to ignore the way her chest tightened at the words 'locked' and 'cupboard'.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Sophie scolded them. "The dare has been set! Either do it or face the consequences!" She gestured at the shot glasses of vinegar beside her.

"Urh, alright. Come on, Nells." Peter groaned as he stood.

Nellie remained frozen in her seat.

"Nellie? Oh come on, don't tell me you're chickening out!" Sophie teased not so gently, snapping Nellie out of her trance.

"No, course not!" She swallowed hard and stood, telling herself she could put up with the tiny darkness inside the cupboard for a few minutes.

Brushing past Peter, she tried to appear confident as she opened the cupboard door and walked in. It seemed the cupboard was even smaller than when she'd last had to fetch something from in here for Sarah.

Peter slipped in beside her. The walls already seemed to be closing in on her as Sophie closed the door behind them and she heard the click of the lock sliding into place.

Peter sighed and leaned against the wall behind him, forcing their legs to tangle together in the process. He raised an eyebrow at her, obviously expecting her to snap at him and therefore lose the dare.

She managed to roll her eyes at him and see a frown crease his forehead at her lack of response before she screwed her eyes shut and fought the tears she could feel welling up, mentally scolding herself. _'Come on, don't be so stupid! Not in front of Peter, come on, you'll be out of here in a few minutes!'_

Despite this, she still felt the familiar, terrifying sensation of tightness and fogginess start to cloud her head and chest. Opening her eyes again and fixing her gaze determinedly at a spot somewhere in the middle of Peter's chest, she tried to force herself to keep her breathing steady, but she knew it was a losing battle as her vision began to blur and her breathing turned short and harsh.

Somewhere through the haze Nellie heard Peter's voice.

"Nellie? Nell are you okay?!"

"Not. Good. With small. Spaces." She managed to gasp through her rapidly increasing breathing.

She distantly heard a sharp intake of breath that wasn't hers and felt him scrambling to right himself again the wall.

"Oh sh- what do I do? Nellie how can I help?" Peter struggled to stay calm as he saw her sway alarmingly.

Gasping a huge gulp of air, she stuttered "Di- Distraction!"

"Right! Distraction, distraction I can do that! Um…" He racked his brains frantically and he anxiously ran a hand through his hair. Why was it that in moments like this your mind suddenly decided to forget everything?!

Seeing her sway again and clutch at his arms to try to stay upright, he did the only thing he could think of. He grasped the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his with an almost bruising force.

Feeling her stop breathing, he was momentarily worried he traumatised her into fainting, but to his relief he felt her shakily exhale against his cheek and cautiously slid her hands up to rest on his shoulders. Moving his hands downward, he felt the muscles in her back easing under his hands as she relaxed slightly.

Pulling away, he saw rather than heard her gasp gently as she opened her eyes to stare at him in shock.

"It was the only thing I could think of." He near whispered in explanation, then winced at his wording, knowing she would tease him about that.

Coming back to her senses, she snatched her hands back and began wiping furiously at the tears staining her cheeks, but as she moved to step away from him, the wall behind her hit her back, reminding her where they were.

Seeing eyes widen again in distress, Peter's hands flew to her arms, bringing her gaze back to his. He swore his heart broke slightly as he saw fresh tears and utter bleakness brewing there. Following his instincts, he pulled her to him in a hug, feeling her struggle feebly before she nestled into him. Raising a hand to stroke her hair as he recalled her doing to Sarah several times in the past, he prayed Sophie's five minutes were up soon so he could ask Sarah what on earth he should do.


	2. Chapter 2

Hearing the lock click back, he gently loosened his hold on Nellie slightly as Sophie flung the door open enthusiastically.

"OH!" She exclaimed, obviously thinking she'd caught them in a compromising position. That is, until Nellie turned to face her. "Oh!" She cried in quite a different tone. "Nell what happened?!" She stretched her arms out to embrace her, but Nellie unconsciously shrunk back into Peter's arms.

Taking charge, Peter ushered the still rather lightheaded Nellie to the sofa. Sophie rushed off to fetch a glass of water as Peter reached for the tissues on the table next to them.

Nellie looked up as he pressed a tissue into her hand, meeting his gaze briefly and managing half a smile as she hoarsely whispered a thanks and caught his hand in a surprisingly strong grip.

They stayed like that for a few moments until Sophie re-entered the room with Sarah, whose expression showed Sophie had told her what had happened.

Nellie looked up as she heard Sarah crying out her name, and a second latter she found herself engulfed by the lily scent of her perfume. Unable to stop herself while her guard had been lowered so far, her whole body tensed. Sarah obviously felt this and drew back hurriedly.

"Sorry, sorry je ne pense pas." She waved off Nellie's attempt at an apology. "Ici, je ne sais pas which medication you'd need so I brought them all." Sarah showed her cousin the bottles of tablets she'd been holding.

Nodding her thanks, Nellie took one of the bottles, and, silently accepting the water Sophie offered, she steadied her still-shaking hands for long enough to swallow two of the tablets inside.

Peter took this to be a good sign. Surely if she had medication for it, then it must have happened before, and if it had happened before, then she'd be alright. Wouldn't she? Dammit why wasn't anyone explaining what had happened?

Sophie collected the bottles and, following Sarah's whispered directions, went return them to Nellie's bedroom.

"Sarah?" He asked quietly, but still loud enough to sound like shouting in the eerie silence that had descended over them.

"Yeah?" She asked softly.

"What-" he paused, uncertain how to phrase his question. "-What happened? What was that? Is she alright?"

To everyone's surprise, Nellie herself spoke.

"It was a panic attack. I'm claustrophobic, among other stuff, and yeah, I will be. Eventually." She shrugged tiredly and sighed, leaning back against his arm, which Peter had only just realised he had wrapped around her.

"You should get some rest, mon chérie." Sarah suggested gently to her cousin.

Nodding slowly, Nellie felt Peter's hands move to her waist and arm to support her as she tried to stand. Normally she'd have smacked his hands away, but she found herself grateful for his support as her legs proved weaker than she'd expected. She even found herself missing his warmth as she felt his hands slip away to allow Sarah to take over and lead her to her room.

Peter continuing to watch Nellie carefully until Sarah led her round the corner as she was still trembling faintly.


	3. Chapter 3

Unsure if there was anything else he could do to help, he hovered uncertainly, wondering if he should have followed them. He was sure under normal circumstances Nellie would yell at him for weeks if he even thought of coming near her room, but what if she needed help? Sure, Sarah was there, but maybe he should just go and check?

Before he could move however, Sophie appeared in the door. They stood for a moment just staring at each other.

"I- I didn't know-"

"-I know-"

"-I wouldn't have-"

"-I know."

They paused in a marginally awkward silence for a moment. Whilst they did call themselves friends, they only really had the rest of the group in common, and they were never usually alone together without at least Sarah or Nellie to give them something to talk about.

Peter studied her carefully and noticed her eyes looked slightly pink, like she'd been rubbing at them, and realised she must've been crying.

"It's not your fault you know, Sophie." He offered awkwardly.

"Isn't it? I shouldn't have called her a chicken, she can never turn down a dare once I say that."

"Soph, she can never turn down a dare whether we say that or not." They both laugh softly. "Seriously, it wasn't your fault, you didn't know, neither of us did."

"Maybe not." She allowed. Another awkward silence. "Well, I should probably head off then, my Mum…"

"Yeah, sure, of course. Um, see you tomorrow?"

"Probably, yeah."

Sophie picked up her jacket from the back of the chair before heading out into the hall. He heard the door closing behind her moments later.

Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his eyes and wondered how it was that he felt so tired when it had been Nellie that had- well. He shuddered as he thought back to how desperate her breathing had become in the cupboard and how violently she'd been shaking even after they'd settled her on the sofa.

Why had she put herself through that? Why had she forced herself to even approach the cupboard when she'd been so afraid? Phobias were nothing to be ashamed of, or at least they shouldn't have been.

Lost in his thoughts, he was surprised to find he had unconsciously come to stand outside Nellie's room. Cautiously he raised a hand to knock, but just as he did, the door opened from the inside. Sarah and Peter both jumped at seeing the other in front of them.

"I came to see if-" he gestured to where he'd caught a brief glance of Nellie's fiery hair resting against a deep blue pillow, apparently already fast asleep. He stepped backwards to allow Sarah to exit the room properly.

What was wrong with him tonight? He normally had no trouble expressing his questions and opinions, but something about the lingering memory of Nellie's lips softening under his kept distracting him. He knew he shouldn't be thinking about that given what had happened. It shouldn't even have happened in the first place, but he couldn't stop thinking about the way his fingers tangled in her hair as he pulled her flush against him.

Luckily Sarah correctly guessed the end of his sentence.

"She's sleeping now. She'll be fine, but a bit tired for a day or two, but she'll be fine. Embarrassed more than anything probably." She smiled bitterly at the last bit.

"I'm glad. Well not that- I meant-" He groaned loudly. Why wouldn't his brain work?! He scowled half-heartedly as Sarah started giggling quietly. "I meant I'm glad she'll be alright."

"I know what you meant." A still giggling Sarah laid a hand on his arm and she turned to head to the kitchen. Peter tried not to think about how wrong it felt there compared to Nellie's.

"You look pretty out of it, are you sure you're okay to drive home?" Sarah asked as they reached the kitchen and she began pouring them both a glass of water.

"To be honest, not really, but I'll manage." He attempted to smile.

"Oh don't be silly!" Sarah exclaimed. "You can stay here! We don't mind, seriously!" She reassured him as he began to protest. "No, come on, you've stayed here before, you know how to set up the sofa bed, I'll go get the spare sheets. Really, I insist!"

Peter was forcibly reminded why they often teased Sarah about being the 'Mum' of the group as he found himself unable to turn down her offer.

"Thanks, Sarah." He couldn't help the half-smile half-smirk that felt almost foreign on his face after the evening they'd had. "Really, I-"

"-Je sais." Sarah smiled back as she turned to fetch the sheets.

Nellie would be alright. That was all that mattered to him. And he could work out why some other time.


End file.
